A transgender teenager is suing his Virginia high school because he said he has been stigmatized by a policy that bars him from using the boys' restrooms.

Gavin Grimm, 16, is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union in the lawsuit against the Gloucester County School Board. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and an order allowing Grimm to use the boys' restrooms.

The teen had used the communal restrooms for nearly two months without incident until the board - responding to complaints from some parents and local residents - adopted a policy in December requiring transgender students to use a private facility, according to the complaint.

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Gavin Grimm, 16, is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union in the lawsuit against the Gloucester County School Board. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and an order allowing Grimm to use the boys' restrooms (the teen pictured left and right)

Grimm, who will be a junior at Gloucester High School in the Fall, was designated female at birth but has a male gender identity

'It's very stressful and humiliating,' Grimm told ABC. 'It makes it impossible for me to live as myself peacefully. The issue has outed me on grand scale, which should never have to happen to anyone.'

Grimm, who will be a junior at Gloucester High School in the Fall, was designated female at birth but has a male gender identity.

He has been diagnosed as having gender dysphoria, a medical condition characterized by distress stemming from conflict between a person's gender identity and the person's assigned sex at birth, the complaint says.

Grimm started refusing to wear girls' clothes by age six, and by ninth grade most of his friends were aware of his gender identity, according to the lawsuit.

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He told his parents he was transgender in April 2014, and they took him to a psychologist who diagnosed his condition and developed a treatment plan that includes 'social transition' to his gender identity.

'For transgender adolescents, it is critical that the social transition involve full transition at school, including with respect to restrooms,' the complaint says.

Grimm also has been receiving hormone treatments to deepen his voice and give him a more masculine appearance, according to the court filing.

The teen had used the communal restrooms for nearly two months without incident until the board adopted a policy in December requiring transgender students to use a private facility, according to the complaint

Under the transgender restroom policy, Grimm was told he would not be able to use the boy's restrooms and that there would be disciplinary consequences if the tried to use them (above Gloucester High School)

The school's principal gave him permission to use the boys' restroom shortly after he told the school he was a boy last August, according to ABC.

However, on December 9, 2014 the transgender restroom policy stopped him from using the bathroom of his choice, according to the complaint.

'The policy declared that access to the boys' and girls' restrooms would be limited to students of the 'corresponding biological genders,' and also declared that students who are unable to use such restrooms because of 'gender identity issues' would be relegated to 'an alternative appropriate private facility',' the complaint says.

During that school board meeting, one speaker called him 'freak' and compared him to a person who thinks he is a dog and wants to urinate on fire hydrants, the court filing says.

The ACLU said the lawsuit is the first of its kind in Virginia, but several similar cases have been brought in other state courts and at least two in federal courts elsewhere

Under the transgender restroom policy, Grimm was told he would not be able to use the boy's restrooms and that there would be disciplinary consequences if the tried to do so.

'It was crushing… it was very, very disappointing,' Grimm, who is the only student to use a private bathroom at the school, told Wavy-TV of the decision.

To avoid the stigma of having to use separate restrooms, he has tried to avoid using any restrooms during the school day, the lawsuit says.

The ACLU said the lawsuit is the first of its kind in Virginia, but several similar cases have been brought in other state courts and at least two in federal courts elsewhere.

Gloucester County Attorney Ted Wilmot, who represents the school board, said that he had not seen the complaint and that any comment would be premature.

He also said the board likely will discuss how to respond at its next meeting, set for June 18.